Another Look at the Psalms

This weeks blog was written by Laurence Dunn

Over the past  3 weeks, I have been reading through the Psalms sequentially with my wife, starting with Psalm 1. I invite you to take this reading journey with me.

Having reached probably the best-known Psalm, #23, I am having a Selah(pause) moment to reflect on what we have been reading and observing about the life of David and his relationship with God. One of the challenges we have faced is putting each Psalm into a time framework that reflects events in David’s life. Unfortunately, the preliminary note to some musicians or conductors doesn’t give us much clue except for saying he was fleeing from Absalom (Psalm3) or from Saul (Psalm18). Life on the run brings different thoughts to mind versus everyday life.

The feature of most of the Psalms is the conflict that is going on between righteousness and wickedness, and David’s personal take on what God should do to all these wicked people, especially to the ones that are directly persecuting him. Revenge is very satisfying, but is that what we know of God’s working in our own lives and what we have learnt from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Remember David was, from a very young age, trained to solve problems through conflict, and the ethos of the warrior was very much his lifestyle. It is therefore amazing that this man of war gives us Psalm 23 as a wonderful composition of peacefulness and resting in God’s love.

As you read these Psalms, ask yourself, what do you see about the character of God, versus the character of David?

A modern-day assessment would consider David a man tormented by his enemies almost continually, with the only relief being in God’s response to David’s request to destroy these sources of affliction. Fortunately, it appears that David’s trust in the saving power of God was absolute in that he didn’t have to resort to drugs or drink to find relief.  David gives us such a great picture of the value of talking to God about all that is going on in our lives. As he did so, he was able to let go of some of the trauma and confess his trust is God again. And he did this in the context of sharing with others. His was not an isolated journey with God. His was a journey that invited others to share his victories and his worship of God as his deliverer.

While still considering these stories in the context of today’s life, can you relate David’s experiences to your own life experience? Who do you count as your enemies? How does David’s desire for God to annihilate his enemies tie in with Jesus’ admonishment to us—"But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Matthew 5:44

On a positive note, we can learn a lot from David about how he views God and His awesomeness in so many ways that inspire us in our daily living.

Personally, there is not one specific Psalm that I relate to, but I remember before accepting Jesus as my Savior that I was insecure in regard to how other people viewed me and talked about me, a common problem for David with his perceived enemies, always talking nastily about him behind his back.  But praise be to God, when I accepted Jesus, all that disappeared and I came to experience all the wonderful attributes of a loving God as detailed in Psalm 23.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.